Study Shows Taste is Key Factor in Low-Fat Snacks

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- When it comes to low-fat snack foods, taste is everything.

Health-oriented consumers are more likely to purchase a snack if they think it tastes good, even if they perceive it to be high in fat, according to a study by Kalpesh Desai, assistant professor of marketing at the University at Buffalo School of Management, and S. Ratneshwar, professor of marketing at the University of Connecticut.

The study, published in the winter issue of Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, focused on consumer perceptions of low-fat variations of existing snack products. The researchers examined the joint effects on consumers of three factors: brand familiarity, retail shelf display and consumer goal orientation.

"Most consumers don't associate potato chips, cheese puffs and cookies with the phrase 'low fat,'" says Desai. "So when a firm launches a variation of its existing snacks in a low-fat version, they are marketing it based on an 'atypical' attribute.

"This is good news for major brands that dominate the market. They should be able to launch line extensions based on atypical attributes without worrying about pre-existing brand associations."

Desai notes, however, that "upstart" brands will have difficulty positioning themselves as niche products based on atypical attributes.

Subjects in the study were shown color slides depicting shelf displays of snack foods in low-fat versions. Brand familiarity and shelf display were manipulated in a controlled experiment. After seeing the displays, subjects judged the likelihood that they would buy the target snacks and rated the snacks on fat content (the atypical positioning attribute) and taste (a typical attribute). The health orientation of the subjects also was assessed for the study.

For the brand familiarity component, results showed that consumers perceived the low-fat versions of more familiar snack brands such as Wise, Cheetos and Keebler to be higher in fat content compared to those of lesser-known brands. However, their positive perceptions of the taste

of the familiar brand's low-fat product outweighed their negative perceptions of fat, and they were more likely to buy the variant of the familiar brand.

The second element, shelf display, focused on whether consumers were more likely to purchase low-fat snacks if they were shelved with the regular snack foods or with the health foods. Desai and Ratneshwar found that consumers who saw the low-fat snacks in with the health foods perceived them to be higher in fat, but better in taste, with a greater likelihood of purchase than if the products were shelved with regular snacks.

Health orientation of the consumer was the third factor examined. Although consumers who were assessed as "more health oriented" were skeptical of the low-fat claims, they were more apt to buy the low-fat snacks because, for them, the determining attribute was taste.

The results also suggest that low-fat versions of familiar snack brands cannot encourage "less health-oriented" consumers to consume more snacks (by making them feel less guilty about the fat content in the snack). Instead, these products attract "more health-oriented" consumers, who, despite believing these versions to be higher in fat, would buy them for their better taste.